Doyle in for Murray doesn't seem like a good swap to me

We can finally put all the made up newspaper articles and the rumours from someone’s sister’s mate’s uncle to bed - the transfer window is over.

The day itself was exceptionally underwhelming for me. Neil Warnock hasn’t been here too long so can be excused for leaving all his dealings until deadline day, but it was the amount of time it took to finalise the signings which disappoints me.

Zeki Fryers and James McArthur were at the training ground from the early hours of the day and I thought Palace were uncharacteristically going to get some business done early on deadline day. Wrong. The deals weren’t officially finalised until 8:33pm and 9:32pm respectively.

There’s something ever so intriguing about Palace’s transfer policy, it seems to take an eternity to seal the deal. Other clubs seem to sign players within seconds of being linked with them, Palace seem to take days.

Take Burnley for instance. Yesterday the news they were interested in Nathaniel Chalobah emerged for the first time and within an hour it was confirmed he had signed for them on a season-long loan. This is something Steve Parish’s Crystal Palace have always been one step behind everyone else at.

Although I agree entirely that we need to make sure everything is as calculated and careful as possible - something a lot of clubs won’t have done - it’s agonising to know that this drawn out process will always result in us signing someone we were never initially interested in, such as Kevin Doyle. To think we have lost Glenn Murray and replaced him with the Irish international is bitterly disappointing from a selfish point of view.

Realistically it’s a great move for Murray because he needs game time and I have no doubt he will score goals again in the Championship. One thing for certain is I now will have a soft spot for Reading!

If we get our other business done earlier, we would have longer to focus on our other top targets.

I have never been one to think that spending a shed load of money is a sign of ambition. I, in fact, think its stupidity.

There are an endless amount of signings made by other clubs that will cost them a fortune yet will so obviously not work out. That’s not a problem for me. My issue is the lack of calibre of players we looked at; one’s who went for a very reasonable price.

Signings such as Aaron Cresswell to West Ham for just under £4m and Mo Diame to Hull for £3m are deals I can only wonder as to why Palace weren’t involved with. That said, I am (believe it or not) very happy with our summer dealings.

Unlike last season, we haven’t stockpiled players - like many others this season have done. We have improved in pretty much all departments because McArthur is an upgrade on Kagisho Dikgacoi, as is Wilfried Zaha on Tom Ince, Fryers on Dean Moxey and Brede Hangeland on Danny Gabbidon. I could go on.

The truth is we have only added to a team who came 11th last season. The spine of our team is the same, and with these signings our squad is a lot stronger and we have therefore made a step forward as a club.

While signing exotic players from all over the world - like every team in the league has seemingly done- can be initially exciting, you can almost guarantee that 70 percent of them won’t adapt to the league straight away and many may never do at all. I much prefer our signings who have either plied their trade in England for the majority of their career, or ones who are up and coming British talents, ones with good value in the future.

Ipsoregulated

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